UW-Stout News Story

Abrams scholarship hits $50,000, thanks to students' donation

A donation by a group of University of Wisconsin-Stout students has pushed a special scholarship fund to the $50,000 mark.

The UW-Stout student chapter of the Society of Plastics Engineers recently donated $100 to the John Leon Abrams Memorial Scholarship to help it reach the milestone funding level in less than one year.

"We are honored to have the opportunity to make this donation in the name of a Stout alumnus who died for our country. This scholarship will help plastics engineering students shape their futures and prepare them for a career in the field," said Dayton Ramirez, of Lone Rock, the student chapter vice president.

The scholarship will be awarded annually to a plastics engineering student who is active in campus activities; a veteran or member of the military; or a descendant of a veteran.

The SPE chapter, which has 36 members, recently was named one of two outstanding chapters of the year at an industry conference in Cincinnati. The chapter also received a Certificate of Merit this spring from the Stoutreach Service Council for volunteering with STEM Career Day and three local Science Olympiad events.

The Abrams scholarship fund benefited from another recent donation to move it closer to the $50,000 goal. That donation was made by the scholarship's memorial committee.

The endowed scholarship was created in 2012 by eight classmates and members of the Sig Tau Gamma fraternity, of which Abrams was a member. The group started the committee to honor their friend, who died in action in 1968 in Vietnam.

The scholarship largely was funded through contributions from former classmates and the plastics industry, including the Mold Making and Mold Design Division of SPE, i2tech, Triangle Tool, Bemis Manufacturing, Phillips Medisize, Snap-on, the Chicago Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers, the Chicago Section Educational Foundation and the Plastics Pioneers Association.

For a previous story about Abrams and the scholarship, click here. The first John Leon Abrams Memorial Scholarship was awarded in September, 50 years after Abrams graduated.

To donate to the Abrams scholarship fund or other scholarships at UW-Stout, contact the Stout University Foundation, 715-232-1151 or click here.